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Marc Vedo - Working the crowd and 36 hour days
Dj’s often find their weeks encompassing long haul flights, local residencies and production work, but Marc Vedo, who was once dubbed ‘the next Sasha’ by Mixmag is mananging all of the above whilst also assisting in the running of the very popular Trance nights – Koolwaters.
Marc has Ticked all of the big festival gig boxes, clocked up as many air miles of the last few years as an air hostess and if the past is anything to go by this globally popular trance DJ might as well purchase a 36 hour watch, cause 24 just won’t be enough. In between promoting, working on an album and Djing to thousands RA spoke to once of the hardest workers in the scene today – Marc Vedo.
Firstly lets delve deep into your style. The Koolwaters parties with which you are a founder have a definite trance feel to them, is this your preferred style in simple form, but you like to add a number of different elements to it during a performance?
Yeah trance is my out and out love, whilst I do spin house I have always been a trance DJ first. My love for house has been part of my life for many years but trance was where I found myself and in some ways still am. I refer to my trance style as “tech-tribal-trance” but I do also have a harder edged trance side which, whilst not my main style, seems to be a huge attraction to many of the crowds I play to. Being head resident for Koolwaters has allowed me to experiment more openly with my music, our loyal supporters appreciate us (all the residents and myself) as much as the guests and this is a great quality to have as a resident DJ.
Having played at Homelands, Escape in the park, Godskitchen and Ministry Of Sound plus holding residencies at Sundissential, Slinky and Miss Moneypennies all by the age of 26 is some achievement, especially in the competitive space that Djing now is. Do you owe certain people along the way for their guidance and faith, which combined with self belief, hard work and an ability to DJ has lead to such success already?
Yeah I always wonder who it is that I’m supposed to thank for all of this, the problem is there are so many. I know I’m lucky for where I am and what I have been allowed to do, so I never take anything for granted. I definitely owe a lot of my success to the clubs I learnt my trade at and I also owe the clubbers who have support me along the way.
I’d also like to thank everyone involved with Koolwaters, you guys have helped fuel the dreams – big love!
What do you have in the pipeline in terms of studio productions and collaborations?
Due to my hectic schdeule with Djing and promoting my time in the bunker (studio) has been limited over this last year or two but with recent additions to the KW team, plus I’ve recently been signed to RPA DJ agency. All means that I can now concentrate on pushing more hours in the studio and also getting around sorting out a couple of my unfinished tracks haha! Whilst I say this I haven’t exactly been completely vacant from the studio, having recently completed a artist album for a joint CD Album by Koolwaters and Wella
You completed an album ‘Head Games’ in association with Wella that will be distributed across 1,800 salons through out the UK. Did you have carte blanch on this, or did you have to conform to certain guidelines? And what was the idea behind this release?
The CD was for a promotional campaign for a new range of products by Wella, the idea behind it was to reach their key audience of 16-28 year olds. They came to us with a few ideas and we discussed a few more but finally hit on a joint album together. Our aim was to push the sound of dance music and Marc Vedo to a new audience, the feedback and interest we’ve received right across the age groups has been tremendous. I was fortunate in that I was giving 100% control on the musical side of the album, this was something I was happy about because it allowed me to reflect a true picture of dance music and not some cheese infested one. Anyway who knows maybe one day your see another album on the shelves someday soon shhhhh!?!
As a promoter you have a hand in a number of different nights with verifying styles including the popular ‘Something Fruity’ funky evening. Is this a chance for you to explore other avenues both musically and entrepreneurial?
At the time the aim behind Something Fruity was develop a sound which we were only showcasing in the back rooms of our events, we had an audience and we felt the timing was right to bring this musical taste forward. Whilst Something Fruity was a huge success, we’ve decided to open the musical door of Koolwaters and introduce house and other styles into the front room. Something Fruity still lives in the clubs back room and we shall continue to stage one off events under that name but we felt dance music is on the move and it was time for Koolwaters to under go a musical make over. This freedom also means we can now combine more interesting line ups, themes and ideas. Whilst trance will remain the core of Koolwaters this new musical approach will see a wider selection of artists used at our events, already we have the likes of Jeremy Healy, Sister Bliss, Alex P, Sander Kleinenberg, Boy George, Tall Paul, Kosheen, Lisa Lashes, Judge Jules, FreeStylers, Lisa Loud, Matt Hardwick, Dave Pearce and John Kelly lined up for future events.
level’
What can we expect from the Koolwaters brand over the next 12-18 months? Are you hoping to take it to the global brand level like MOS, Cream, home etc?
Koolwaters has a whole as seen a major change from its early years, 2003 was a huge year for the club and saw us feature in over 15 countries and use over a 1000 DJ’s with some of the biggest being Sasha, Ferry Corsten, Marco V and the globe trotting Chemical Brothers.
Already in 2004 we’ve completed hugely successful tours of Canada, Russia, East/South Africa, Germany, Mauritius and Turkey plus have a host of future hours planned for China, Ireland, Portugal, South and Central America as well as a return to Canada.
Between October 2004 and January 2005 myself and George will also be taking the club on tour in Argentina, Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Mexico and Dominican Republic to name but a few. Besides the international front we also have a selection of our usual mouth watering events lined up for the UK, so as you can see we have a lot going on in the coming months. As for pushing for global status….well we are working tirelessly to develop the brand as a leader in it field, we know our followers enjoy our events and we continue to build on this. Our events are motivated and driven by our audience and watching the formula behind our events work in another country under a completely different audience is an amazing part of the clubs development.
Some DJs concentrate on keeping the dancefloor, others prefer to take on the role of an educator. Then there are those who are more ‘the entertainer’. There are hundreds or thousands of good DJs out there but only a handful of truly great ones. What do you think makes a great DJ?
Consistency is something that I have always seen has a key factor to a good DJ, maintaining and building on this quality is what improves you as a DJ. Sasha is a great example of this, a DJ renowned for technical ability as much as his pioneering of dance music. As you say there are those who ‘entertain’ and those who educate, I think its good to have mixed batches within dance music but the basics should always be evident – good set structure, clean/smooth mixing, good quality music and love for the people on the floor.
Aside from Djing and promoting you have had extensive press. When named in UK tabloid paper ‘The Sun’ top 10 most eligible bachelors and appearing on the bachelor style show ‘Gods Gift’ do you see this as a good laugh, but a distraction to Djing or is Television an area you can see your self involved in down the line?
Haha yeah this kind of press has been a great bonus to my career but I do just see it has a good laugh, I try not to take myself too seriously as it is very easy to slip in to the ego path of Djing. I’m fortunate enough to do what I love as my job but that’s not to say I need to be a wanker about it, in fact when not djing I can often be found in the thick of it with the guys on the floor or at an after party. The media exposure I have received in the past has opened new doors for me but it can seem give out the wrong impression to people. Though saying this television is something I’ve always been interested, and my management have been in negotiations in regards to future work in some low budget films.
Whats more nerve racking. Appearing in front of a 1000 screaming fans at a large festival, or appearing on national reality TV?
Playing in front of an audience is without doubt more nerve racking than TV work, as these guys are live they are there, deep in the action. Where as TV work was quite quick paced but you always knew it was quite ‘real’, plus you can only see a small percentage of the audience as the rest are at home – thankfully haha! I suppose being a presenter is quite nerve racking but then that is probably why they always get them “high on life” types to run the shows? Djing in front of a mass audience is awesome, the buzz at watching the crowd flow to your music is a fantastic feeling but whilst I don’t get nervous for club gigs anymore. I do still get the butter flies for the big 2000+ ones.
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Published / Monday, 11 October 2004
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